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Topic: Trial painting- May painting challenge (Read 466 times)

Startet painting this, somehow not happy since the result is not what I expected. 😔Would be happy to hear an opinion how to make this better ( if at all possible, since this is WC)😖. I think I might have to start all over again. 😤. Sharing this with you, eventhough I would put this away up on a shelf.

Gita, I think your bird and the branches are beautifully painted. The only thing I might suggest is to perhaps darken some of the leaves a bit more on their undersides, to create greater tonal value.

What doesn't seem to be working so well for you is the sky. In the original painting, the drama of that rich blue sky contrasts well with the yellow bird. The sky in your painting feels a bit too busy to me, and is all mid-tones. I have recently been having the same problem with my own skies--which is why I tend to shy away from landscapes.

What I have sometimes done with my own paintings in which the sky looks terrible to me and I'm ready to stop altogether, is to wash--flood--the entire sky with lots of water. (If there are no other objects in the painting, I'll even place the whole painting under the tap in the kitchen sink!) If you want to do this, you will have to work carefully, thoroughly wetting section by section. While the area is still very wet, wipe & then blot it with a paper towel to remove as much pigment as possible. Then you can dry it with a hair dryer, front and back. When the sky area is completely dry, you can repaint it with clear blue pigment--maybe several glazes to build up the color. A few soft clouds would be fine, too.

I know my suggestion sounds drastic. As I said, I only do this when I've otherwise given up hope for the painting. So if you don't want to do that, perhaps others here will have some different ideas.

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--Susan

"Creativity is harnessing universality and making it flow through your eyes." Peter Koestenbaum

Thank you so much Susan for your valuable suggestions! At first I was reluctant to paint a larger area blue sky (this paper is 40 x 60), since I was not very successful in the past. My attempt to paint a sort of mixed sky is suboptimal. I shall try to apply your suggestion of washing colour off and getting a homogenous blue. I can only do this after my last long flight back to Germany.😮 Leaving tomorrow. Sigh, my wonderful vacation has almost finished..🦎🐬🌸🌴🦀🌊🌴🌿🦇🌄🐠🌊🐢🐟🐜🕷.....but have taken enough colours and inspiration for further painting😄

Great that you are back safe and sound Gita. I too, have washed quite a few of my paintings, a lot of which have ended up in the bin. Because I am 'background challenged' with painting, I tried the challenge with pastels but still struggled a bit. Anyway, good luck with whatever you decide to do.

Patricia

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PatriciaBlessed are those who give without remembering and blessed are those who receive without forgetting - anonymous

Tried fixing this with WC like Susan suggested. That turned out to be another challenge. I could not resist myself to save this bird😌. So switched the medium, the background is acrylic, parts of the leaves and bird are acrylic and CP. I could use acrylic since the paper was thick enough. The result is acceptable... but not one of my best productions for all the time invested 😮. The background needs another thin coating to remove the white spots.🙄Just sharing this with you, I learnt quite a bit by taking part in this painting challenge. Would be happy to hear your crits. Thanks for the photo, Val! And thank you again for all the valuble suggestions, I am so thrilled to be in touch with all you PBs and talk about art.

Wow, Gita, you saved the painting and I think you are so brave to experiment but it has paid off. Lovely to see that our efforts can be saved and not end up in the bin. We are so fortunate to have such wonderful members to help us as I said before. We are blessed.

Patricia

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PatriciaBlessed are those who give without remembering and blessed are those who receive without forgetting - anonymous